14th-Ranked Lady Tigers to Face #12 North Carolina Friday in First ACC Road Contest

Oct. 3, 2007

Clemson, SC – The Lady Tiger soccer team will travel to Chapel Hill, NC on Friday to face defending national champion North Carolina. It will be a match-up between top-15 teams, as Clemson is ranked 14th and the Tar Heels are 12th, nationally. The game will be played at Fetzer Field on the campus of UNC and is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.

Clemson is 8-1-1 on the season and has a 1-0-1 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team most recently opened the conference season with a 1-0 double-overtime win over Maryland and a 0-0 double-overtime tie against eighth-ranked Boston College at Riggs Field. Junior defender Molly Johnson headed in the winning goal against the Terrapins in the 106th minute of play. Senior midfielder Elizabeth Jobe recorded an assist on the play, delivering the ball to Johnson on a free kick following a Maryland foul.

All-American goalkeeper Ashley Phillips leads the nation in save percentage with a 0.969 percentage. The senior from West Peabody, MA ranks second among NCAA Division I goalkeepers in goals-against average with a 0.123 figure, having only allowed one goal in 730 minutes of play.

Three Lady Tigers are in double-figures in points through the team’s first 10 games. Sophomore Molly Franklin has 12 points off of two goals and eight assists. She ranks in a tie for fifth nationally in assists per game with 0.80. Freshman Samantha Fortier has 11 points (four goals, three assists) and red-shirt senior Courtney Foster has 10 points (three goals, four assists) on the season.

North Carolina is 7-3-0 overall and 1-1-0 in the league entering Friday’s contest. The Tar Heels defeated 10th-ranked Florida State 2-1 in overtime in Tallahassee before falling to Miami 1-0 in Coral Gables last week. North Carolina is led by sophomore Casey Nogueira, who has six goals for 12 points on the season, and junior Yael Averbuch, who has two goals and three assists for seven points.

Clemson is 1-19 all-time against the Tar Heels. The only Lady Tiger victory in the series was a 2-1 win on September 13, 2000 when fourth-ranked Clemson upset the number-one-ranked Tar Heels at Riggs Field. The Lady Tigers went on to win the ACC regular season title and reach the NCAA Elite Eight that year. Clemson faced the Tar Heels twice last season, dropping a 2-0 decision during the regular season and falling 3-0 in the semifinal round of the 2006 ACC Championship.

Live statistics for the Clemson vs. North Carolina game will be available on www.clemsontigers.com. The statistics can be accessed by selecting the corresponding Gametracker link in the schedule window on www.clemsontigers.com.